[todd]

Have a four day fam getaway booked to the Arizona Grand Resort hotel (in the southeast Phoenix area, near the I10 and 60 fwy interchange) in mid-August.... Any recommendations for site seeing, photo-scenery ops, etc in the Phoenix/Mesa/Tempe/Scottsdale areas? Thanks!

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Last edited by todd; 07-24-2016 at 02:13 PM.

[shaolen]

south mountain or piestawa peak for shots of the whole city. Superstition mountains.

[microlight]

Head north to Sedona, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest Narional Park, Meteor Crater...

[Adam]

It'll still be hot, but I'd recommend stopping by the desert botanical garden, downtown Phoenix, and old town Scottsdale. All are great spots for photos (though the botanical garden is slowly turning into a concrete jungle IMO).

There's also this place called Butterfly Wonderland if you're into shooting butterflies.

Adam
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[SpecialK]

There is an enormous Musical Instrument Museum on the north edge of town that is nearly overwhelming.

[UncleVanya]

4 hours north is the Grand Canyon... probably too far.

[interested_observer]

As everyone has posted - it's gonnna be HOT, just damm hot - no other way to put it. Stop and get a couple of 6 packs of water to put in the refrigerator/freezer in the room so that you have cool/cold/frozen water to take with you. Bring a hat and sun glasses.

Do you want to sight see or do some resting or both? You can divide your day up in o 3 sections. Early morning sunrise for pictures, Evening sunsets for pictures. Then during the day out of the sun doing something inside.

Inside

• The MIM - Musical Instrument Museum - a good half of day - it great even if you really don't like music.
• The Heard Museum - in town. It is wonderful. One of the great museums in the US. Easily a half a day+.
• I hear that the Butterfly World attraction is wonderful and the Aquarium next door is going to be opening soon.

Outside - Sun Rise and/or Sunset

• Lost Dutchman State Park - Superstition Mountain - Goldfield Ghost Town - All of this is about an hour's drive (east) from your hotel, and it's all located in one area. You can also drive up the Apache Trail to the lake and on to Tortilla Flats - good for lunch and dinner.
• Flagstaff Area - It's a 2 hour+ drive up to Flagstaff (its at 6000 feet so its a bit cooler). On the way there is the Montezuma's Castle (Indian cliff dwellings), the observatory in Flagstaff (discovered Pluto), and then east of town Walnut Canyon - its about a 2 mile hike into a canyon with about 60 Indian dwellings along the trail. A bit farther on down the road is Sunset Meteor Crater. That would easily be a full day of driving, seeing and walking.
• Tuscon - There is Sabino Canyon - nice for hiking, but VERY hot. There is also the Boneyard - where the USAF has several thousand old airplanes parked - and they also have a Museum with some of the old airplanes (both inside and outside) and you can take a tram tour of the boneyard (with ID). Down the road a bit there is also the Titan missile launch complex museum. You can either do Sabino Canyon or the Boneyard/Titan - but one day is not enough to do both - and the drive down and back.

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Last edited by interested_observer; 07-24-2016 at 09:09 PM.

[nomadkng]

Have a four day fam getaway booked to the Arizona Grand Resort hotel (in the southeast Phoenix area, near the I10 and 60 fwy interchange) in mid-August.... Any recommendations for site seeing, photo-scenery ops, etc in the Phoenix/Mesa/Tempe/Scottsdale areas? Thanks!

How much time do you have each day and when?

I would not recommend ANY hiking for out of town visitors in august unless you are in GREAT shape. we have 3-4 a year killed by the heat because they think "it's only a couple miles"

Sedona and Tucson will still be hovering around 100. Flag is about 2:15 1 way from your resort and sunrise is 430ish. Sunset is 730. So unless you want to get up at 2am or crawl in about midnight, you are staying in the Phx area. Grand canyon is just out of the question, its summer which means after sunset you are looking at close to 90 minutes to exit the park. You aren't getting back to Phx before 2am.

Gilbert Water ranch is an interesting location for birds early or late. About 90 minutes north is the Verde Canyon RR. Usery Park and Lost Dutchman are good scenic spots, but all the flowering plant life will be dried up... cactus only.

this is the time of year us locals go to a lot of movies and stay indoors, honestly. With only 4 days, can't really get too adventurous.

[todd]

south mountain or piestawa peak for shots of the whole city. Superstition mountain.

oh that's a great idea and perfect distance for what I might be able to get out at the right times for...thanks

Head north to Sedona, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest Narional Park, Meteor Crater...

Someday! Too far for this trip I reckon... I really want to go though!

desert botanical garden, downtown Phoenix, and old town Scottsdale.

Thank you! I was wondering about the botanical garden when I saw it on the map.. Have seen some interesting images from there from other members here in the past (probably including you too! haha)...

Butterfly Wonderland

A friend just told me about this last night and it sounds amazing! I don't often go after the critters for shots but this seems like a must see...

enormous Musical Instrument Museum

Sounds enormously interesting but I'm sure I'd get sucked in there for way too long. Maybe though... Their site isn't loading right now so gotta remember to go back and check it out.

too far

For sure.

Butterfly World

A friend just told me about this last night and it sounds like an amazing must. thanks

Do you want to sight see or do some resting or both? You can divide your day up in o 3 sections. Early morning sunrise for pictures, Evening sunsets for pictures. Then during the day out of the sun doing something inside.

Resting and fun with the fam at the hotel is top priority and trying to mix in a bit of site seeing and photo escapes if and when I can... I go out to Palm Desert every year in June with the fam for a similar trip and know the heat can quickly evaporate my motivation, but the one time we took a trip to AZ (back in July 2009, to Carefree) it seemed that there is an added incentive in AZ thanks to the atmosphere (more clouds)! I had some of my favorite sunrises and sunsets - ever - on that trip.

Lost Dutchman State Park - Superstition Mountain - Goldfield Ghost Town - All of this is about an hour's drive (east

This might be doable. I'd say an hour away is tops of my reach for this trip. thanks!

I would not recommend ANY hiking for out of town visitors in august unless you are in GREAT shape. we have 3-4 a year killed by the heat because they think "it's only a couple miles"

yeah, if I do any, it's going to have to be early.. I am familiar with this factor from yearly mini vacations to Palm Desert in June.

Gilbert Water ranch is an interesting location for birds early or late. this is the time of year us locals go to a lot of movies and stay indoors, honestly. With only 4 days, can't really get too adventurous.

That water ranch does look interesting.. just saw some nice shots on google maps.. I agree about the time of year and will mostly be indoors or in water. There are some great ideas here though that I think are near enough that I might be able to get to if I really need to scratch my photo itches. thanks!